Video conferencing permits two or more participants to remotely communicate using both audio and video signals. In one method of video conferencing, participants use a software application on a video conferencing device, such as a personal computer. Typically, capture devices connected to such a video conferencing device, such as cameras and microphones, acquire the speech and movements of a participant while simultaneously converting this information to audio and video streams, respectively. The software application obtains the streams from the capture devices, combines the streams into a multimedia stream, and then transmits the multimedia stream across a transmission medium to the one or more participants in the video conference. An application on a video conferencing device used by a receiving participant, in turn, accepts the multimedia stream and distributes its components to an audio device, such as a computer speaker, and a video display, such as a monitor.
Computer networks, such as the Internet, comprise an extensible, widely available, and low-cost transmission medium for video conferencing. Accordingly, video conferencing devices frequently connect directly to a computer network in order to exchange multimedia streams with other devices, similarly connected to the network and associated with remote participants, in order to enable a video conference. Conventional video conferencing across a computer network requires an initial configuration procedure in order to obtain identifying and/or routing information for the various participants. For example, before exchanging multimedia streams with a remote device across the Internet, a video conferencing device must first obtain the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the remote device.